Monday 30 April 2012

Andy's last BG recce - touch wood.

Some two hours after Adam will have started the Fellsman I found myself imagining myself charging off Ingleborough, hunting down the leading three runners as I was this time last year. After a difficult decision to pull out of the Fellsman, I was surprised that I was no longer frustrated at missing out. I was content: Running comfortably along the road from Seatoller to Seathwaite I was surrounded by the familiar Lakeland fells.

So the first part of the plan had worked: Like the company of an old friend, being in the Lakes had immediately made me content and eased my mind. As good as this Lakeland medicine is, it couldn’t take away the fact that my ankle was still not right. The rest of the plan, a leisurely 8-10 hour day - Legs 4 and 5 of the BG route and at sub BG pace- really would put it to the test and let me determine if I can be confident in my attempt in two weeks time.

Deliberately wanting to be tired at the start of Yewbarrow I ran fairly hard to Wasdale, in 1hr05, but found it very difficult to run comfortably on the rocky downhill sections of path. This was to be the story of the day – on the ups I was very strong and had no pain from my ankle. On the downs I struggled to jog without any discomfort and relaxing and striding out was impossibly painful.

My splits for the run reflect this, I smashed the splits for a 22hour schedule on Leg 4, especially on the significant climbs, but lost over 5 minutes time on the short grassy drop into Honister. The weather had been relatively kind, clouds above the tops and dry but with a constant and biting cold 20-30mph northerly wind to contend with. This allowed me to discover some new trods, particularly a very efficient line to pillar which I hope to find on the day.

Having polished off leg 4 in just under 4hours I sat for 10 mins at Honister to take on some food and cooled off very quickly in the wind. The painful descent to Honister had left me in two minds as to whether I should get the bus or continue and run back to Keswick. I was feeling very down and the prospect of not being able to attempt the BG seemed very real. A chat about my BG attempt with another runner encouraged me to continue, the logic being that if I couldn’t push on now, then I’ve no chance in two weeks, and if my ankle didn’t hold out over the next 3 hours or so then I’d have no choice but to put off the attempt.

The company, and consequential steady pace, of a hill walker meant that the climb up Dale Head was enjoyable, matching a 22 hour BG pace before a steady jog round to Hindscarth, back inside the splits. The flat ground was causing no pain in my ankle so I continued to jog – I managed to ‘Test of Man’ the gradual climb across to Hindscarth into a fierce headwind but marched the grassy slog up the last of the BG peaks, Robinson.

The return to Keswick was new ground for me - I thoroughly enjoyed it. I chose to take the steep grassy drop off the start of High Snab bank, which led to a very comfortable grassy track to the start of the road section which was jogged all the way back to moot hall, finding all the short cuts easily on the way. Just imagining how I will feel running in with Richard and seeing Rosie and all my support at Moot Hall made me quite emotional – I’d better hold it together on the attempt!

Upon arrival in Keswick it was amazing how my mindset had changed, I was now feeling very positive. In the grand scheme of things I hadn’t lost much time on the steep descents, and otherwise I was feeling very strong, especially on the climbs. I was reassured that the 28 miles hadn't seemed at all hard and I was feeling good at the end of it. Mentally I am prepared; The pain in my ankle had been intermittent and manageable, even without any Vitamin I. I know the routes well and have run every line that I want to take at least once, some as many as five times. I know there will be times where I feel like I cannot go on, like last year, but this year I know I will push through them.

The BG is most certainly on!

Friday 27 April 2012

DNS - Harder than racing?

This weekend both halves of Tyne and Weary should have been joining some 500 entrants to compete at the 60+mile Fellsman, however, Adam will be on the start line without me this year.

The Fellsman was my favourite race of 2011 and despite being confident that I could complete the course this year and post a reasonable time, I have made a difficult decision to not race in order to aid the recovery of my injured ankle.

This will be my first ever "Did Not Start" and it continues to be hard to take. I have always seen other people's backing out of competitions as the easy option, a weakness, especially if it is a result of a lack of determination to train and/or compete, or sometimes simply if the weather forecast isn't favourable..! However, it really is a hard decision to turn your back on what you know to be such a highlight, an incredible race that you have trained hard for and built up to, a race that you know would have provided the platform for bigger and better things to come. I know I will be missing out on sharing a fantastic day in the hills with some very good friends, and I will no doubt be missing out on a chance to be part of a winning team (IcedSpicedCollective) and the temptations of the prizes that we would be rewarded with.

My decision has followed a lot of thought, forcing myself to look at the bigger picture, focussing on my priorities for the coming months and reflecting on lessons learnt in the past. Competing with existing injuries has previously led to long term lay offs (OMM 2011) and after the Highlander Mountain Marathon two weeks ago my current injuries recovery has been less than ideal.

Needless to say I will be entering again next year, but for now, my impending Bob Graham attempt will continue to be my focus and I will do my best to follow the fine line that is the compromise between training sufficiently and nursing an injury to the start line.

After these reflections the cons of 60+miles over Yorkshire's finest eventually outweighed the pros and instead of the Fellsman this weekend I will satisfy myself with a non competitive trip to the Lakes.

Tuesday 17 April 2012

Highlander Mountain Marathon

Last weekend saw team Tyne and Weary heading north to compete in the A Class at the Highlander Mountain Marathon (HMM).

The HMM is a very friendly and compact two day mountain marathon, offering a Score course and linear courses from D to A Class. The novelty of the warmth and the exciting atmosphere generated within the marquee at the overnight camp, which hosts a live Ceilidh, hot food, quality ales and burgers, make this MM unique and even more appealing.

At the beginning of the year Adam and I had high hopes of a strong performance in this event, however my ankle injury set back in March meant that pushing the pace was not an option. Rather than withdrawing from the event the weekend was taken at a steadier pace to test my ankles recovery and maintain some strength in my legs. Tripple Echo Productions were filming the event for the adventure show so there is a chance that we may make another TV appearance...

On Saturday the weather was very kind if not cold – the patchy cloud sat above the summits for the majority of the day, only dropping with the occasional heavy hail shower, resulting in relatively easy navigation and some impressive views.

Starting from the car park at Incheril where most Munro baggers would start and finish a day’s walk up Slioch, the course planner (Alec Keith?) had put together a fantastic course for us with some interesting route choice over very mixed terrain and some incredible mountain scenery. With my ankle heavily strapped and a steady dose of Vitamin I, I was able to run much more of the course than anticipated, although contouring and steep down hills were very painful if taken at anything more than a tentative jog.

The traverse and descent from the Beinn Tharsuinn Chaol ridge was a highlight of Day 1 and catching the rib back across Loch Maree to the mid camp was a fun end to the day’s work.

Mid camp was the usual buzz of excitement as the SPORTident results kept updating and teams shared their tales of route choice the day’s adventures. Despite being conservative due to my ankle we were surprised to have finished Day 1 in 5th place only 30min behind the leaders.

The disqualification of the favourites Sam Hesling and Andy Fallas, who had destroyed the course but visited an incorrect control, had thrown the A class wide open: Three teams now had a fighting chance of winning the Sword, Mark and Jacqui Higginbottom’s consistent navigation and pace had earned them first place on Day 1, but would it be sufficient to hold off the chasing teams? Duncan Steen and Robin Sanderson, good friends of ours, were 14mins behind in third with Andy Burton and Tim Martin just 5 minutes behind in second.

With our tent pitched and the first few courses of warm food cooked up we joined the fun in the marquee. The Ceilidh, a venison burger and a pint of yellow hammer meant evening soon turned to darkness and we headed in for the night. My wife Rosie had joined the Hands on Events team to help with the marshalling for the weekend and it had been great to see her and our dog Riley at mid camp.

Day 2 dawned cold and wet. Following freezing overnight temperatures we were keen to get running and after our Breakfast of Power (© Duncan Steen) and packing away a wet tent following a heavy sleaty shower we were soon marking up the map. We rushed out of mid camp to attack Day 2, hoping to maintain our position in the top 5 and push a little harder than on Day 1.

Our performance on Day 2 consisted of strong running, hampered by poor route choice and an early navigational mistake, which saw a determined Duncan and Robin catch us by the first checkpoint. A very strong leg 2 brought us back into 3rd place but a poor choice of route meant that having reached the end of the snow lined and very rocky Beinn Eighe ridge, our checkpoint was some 250m below us. Negotiating our way around some serious crags down steep snow covered slabs was not a fun place to be - understandably we forgot about the race and carefully dropped and cut down on the safest line we could find to the checkpoint, where we effectively rejoined the race now some 40minutes down.

Adam and I ran hard over the last four checkpoints to the finish and were pleased that our strong running had balanced out the mistakes to maintain our 5th place overall.

Despite a very determined run by Duncan and Robin bringing them first home on Day 2, by over 11 minutes, consistently good pace and route choice by Mark and Jacqui Higginbottom saw them hang onto the lead and take home the coveted sword as their trophy.

In summary: a great weekend in some awesome hills, which has given me confidence that my ankle is healing well. Thanks to all the team at Hands on Events for putting together another fantastic event, we will be back next year for sure and recommend the event to all.

Sunday 8 April 2012

Easter BG Recce


The plan for this weekend’s Bob Graham recce had been to run legs 3 and 4 over two days, but having damaged the ligmanets above my ankle mid march the recce was taken at a much steadier pace. If the BG attempt in May is to go ahead I will need to be able to train hard in the next few months, so the injury is a big concern and a considerable setback. Coming to the lakes did, however provide an opportunity for me to test my ankles recovery and get to know some new members of my support team and familiarise them with the route.

Friday - Leg 3 ish

James Charlton, Scott Gibson (both Nurthumberland Fell Runners) and I met at Dunmail Raise on Good Friday morning, the plan being to walk from there along Leg 3 as far as time allowed; I had anticipated a 6-8 hour walk heading back via an appropriate route to finish at Seathwaite where Rosie would pick us up.

On the climb up Steel Fell it was evident that my ankle would hold up ok on the climbs and we made good time. Scott will be supporting Leg 3 of my attempt and he was keen to understand my preferred route and learn from my previous experience and recces. The navigation over to Calf Crag was easy enough, following the trods to the last fence post before heading off on a bearing to the summit. Although I was walking briskly I could not run without significant pain in my ankle so we stuck to a fast walk. Scott had previously taken the Raise to Sergeant Man option, but as my preference is to take Sergeant Man first we followed that route - covering this section proved worthwhile as twice we ventured slightly off course and agreed on the more efficient line to Sergeant Man and then up to Raise.

The pikes were straightforward – taking the direct line off Harrison Sickle confirmed that taking the grassier route to the right is the easier line, which I had used on previous runs. We followed a good runable line cutting up round the north side of Rossett Pike before taking out Bow Fell. Despite only walking these legs we managed to beat my target 22hr BG splits which was reassuring, however, the rockier ground from there on proved too uncomfortable for my ankle and we continued more slowly as far as Great End before heading back to Esk Hause and down to Seathwaite.

Saturday – Leg 4 ish

James, Andrew Burton, Andrew’s girlfriend Sarah and I met at Seathwaite to do a loop over sty head and into Wasdale to recce some of leg 4 and get another 4 to 5 hours out in the hills. My ankle wasn’t too sore after yesterday’s walk so I we set off at a brisk walk again, hoping that a similar intensity would not push my luck.

The walk up over into Wasdale gave good views of the hills around, with the cloud above the summits and a dry start to the day. It was difficult not to be frustrated at having to take it easy, but a few short sections jogging on flat grass reminded me that my ankle was far from right and I satisfied myself with pushing out a fast march up the climb onto black sail pass.

From the pass we followed the BG route, taking a scrambley line right of the shoulder up Kirk Fell. On the climbs I was feeling strong and managed to comfortably meet the BG splits, which is understandable given that they take into account the fact that I will have been on the go for 18 hours by this point on an attempt.

As with yesterday I struggled on the downhills, particularly the rocky descent of Great Gable. Andrew managed the “test of man” and ran from windy gap to the top of Green Gable, I wasn’t far behind having marched hard all the way up.
I took care on the descent from the back off base brown having fallen there a few weeks ago - every downhill this weekend made me realise that it is not the 8500m of climb that was concerning me about the BG, but the 8500m of descent. Descending at a walk is certainly much harder on the quads and knees than running down at a relaxed pace.